Dawn Adopted

by Idyll

Skedaddle: Part 1 (Rewritten 6/2/24)

Author's Note:

Old version here: https://pastebin.com/Py1RTmkT

One spark trickled down a puffy roll of cotton. Soon the whole factory stood in flames.

Kludgetown had no standards or regulations. Only the fat rats could afford to have fire-duty creatures on lookout and only ever in their own homes. The fire, glowing a rich amber, feasted on a day’s worth of labor. Then a week’s. Then a month’s. Then every bag of product turned to ash, and with none of those gaps being any longer than the last. Weaved fabrics and stitched clothes manufactured by diverse rows of foals in cubicles—where metal bars on the wall served both as vents for the breathy room and as a source of hot light—destroyed. The fire arrived. Groups of workers fled their stations; their overseers saved themselves. The sound of hooves, paws, and talons galloping and stumbling drummed the factory up to its roof of wavy tin sheets anchored by wires.

Outside, vendors of illicit goods and exotic delicacies hastened to save their livelihoods. The scent of burnt wood usurped the city’s signature fetor of garbage. Changeling tongues, vials of dragon spit, and hippogriff tails fell from roof-tied strings to the dirt. Here was a place where the coats of griffons and pegasi co-mingled in hangers, or mannequins, or as amalgamations of raw fashion under glass. The owners took what they could carry; and passersby, what they could steal.

Twilight sat climates away, divided by a desert, a canyon, a mountain range, another desert, a plain, a forest, a river, another mountain; Kludgetown was far out of her eye and out of Equestria’s jurisdiction. Abyssinia had similar views. The Storm King’s ransacking all those years ago left a scar on the reputations of many species forced to flee to here. Now they were Kludgetown endemic. What a reputation.

Before the fires ended, bounty posters had been already nailed across the city. A whole district had crumpled into ash in less than an hour. And the city’s council, otherwise indifferent to the cries of one sweatshop owner, had gathered a generous reward for the horn of the culprit. And they discussed what consequences were to be enacted, both on her, and secretly on everycreature else in the building when it lit up.

In an alleyway between homes four-stories high, smothered by a halting snow of ash, a filly lay against the sandstone walls. She’s cerise with a tangerine mane as bright and as wavy as the fires her innocuous horn inspired. Her flanks bore no cutie mark and her horn was fettered along the base by a magic muffler—a cheap one, one that starts to glow red after denying enough spells. In a dry room of buyerless goods and stockpiles waiting to be shipped, you only needed a few sparks. It’s miraculous no creature perished.

The filly’s rear slid down the wall and her head sank into her forelegs; her muzzle stuck out between said legs, practically two skin-dressed bones. She had only a half-coconut-sized bowl of cactuses between her two meals yesterday. Things were tough. Today was the culmination of months of lone planning.

Maybe being selfish will destroy me, she thought. Hoofsteps. She limped further into the alleyway, lifting her injured hind leg. There seemed to be no place to hide besides a round trash bin and three steps of stairs leading up to a door.

You couldn’t have known Kludgetown would look like this, she thought. But… maybe they’ll be too busy fixing everything. Maybe they can’t look through every place. If I could just wait here until the night comes… maybe there’s a village that won’t know about me somewhere nearby…

The alleyway funneled a hot breeze. Luster’s stomach grumbled from even the smell of salt in the sand. She pushed against her gut and wished to choke the feeling. Her body should start to break down fats for fuel soon, but she wasn’t sure if she had any fat reserves left. Her belly was mildly distended. That has to be enough.

The Sun rose only an hour ago. Ten hours until nightfall. The filly quietly groaned. If no creature finds her and she makes it through one of the city’s exits, she’ll only have to traverse a desert before hopefully wandering into a friendly village. Can’t be too hard. I mean, maybe there might be scavengers, or smugglers, or—No! Don’t worry about it… please.

Twenty minutes passed by. The filly’s head fell from hunger and she caught herself on the steps. Her adrenaline had been lost to sweat and left an oily residue over her forehead. How she wished she could just—walk out! She lay her cheeks, soft despite her state, on the highest step, and looked up. I guess the oceans must look a bit like that: blue and big and… oh. She had never seen the sky unobstructed by bars or glass before. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness. Must be nice to have a pair of wings…

She traced the sand, still gazing. After a wobbly circle and two dots, she wasn’t sure what expression she wanted to draw. As her eyes scanned the edge of the opposite building’s rooftop, she felt she could almost make it through the day. Her stomach growled again, but it bothered her less now. The thought of biting into a bird made her smile—it was so silly. Was it really?

Two eyes stared back at her from the roof. The filly froze. Her breathing stopped. They were dark red over large whites, glowing through a cloaked silhouette. The filly dragged herself to the other side of the alley, body not lifting from the ground.

Maybe whoever that was didn’t see me… Hoofsteps reverberated from behind the wall—and she heard two masculine voices. Bounty hunters. She needed a better hiding spot.

The filly noticed a hole to her left, a small fissure of ruinous edges along the base of the wall that seemed to lead to a small empty pocket. The fit was tight. Her head when tilted hardly measured equal to the height of the center of the crevice. But against the loudening steps and voices, she had no choice. Such a spot out of sight seemed to be a gift. The filly pushed her head in—but it wouldn’t fit. Her heart ran a lap. The voices grew louder. She pushed and pushed. The voices stopped.

“What are you doing here?” asked a male voice.

They found me… she thought. Oh, how could this happen? They—

“...I want to show you two something,” said a different, colorful, mare’s voice.

The filly sniffled, head halfway through the crevice. ...Should I even keep going? She expected to be grabbed and taken away to who knows where any second now.

“Are you sure about this, pony?” asked a second male voice, fading.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course,” said the mare, fading along with the others.

They haven't… The filly forced her head into the hole. Sharp rocks on the floor and top failed to dissuade her from doing what needed to be done—fit. Her head entered the darkness; her neck was still between the crevice. She took one deep breath and pulled in her belly. After one forehoof got through, she pushed against the hole-side wall, and soon managed to pop her hips into the spot. Her head was on the floor, a pipe leaked water onto her chest, and her tail was dangling over her mane, but she was through.

She pushed herself into an upright position and lay facing a crack of light. Her injured leg rung, and now the water was dripping on her head. Another pair of steps neared. A creature, bipedal, stood at the alleyway’s entrance. The filly watched as they hammered something into the wall.

Her face, monochromatic, dismal, staring at the reader on the poster. The memory of when they took that photo was a blurry mush of fear. Underneath, big bold text read: “Reward: One Thousand Stormbucks—Dead or Alive.” That last part was circled. The filly’s head retreated into her shoulders as the creature turned around to leave, half-a-seam of posters on his arm left to nail.

The question—of whether the bounty situation would get better or worse as the day goes on—lingers in her head, screaming louder than her few positive thoughts, decaying her littlest of respite.

There has to be something good I can do… The filly looked around. There’s still a trash can near the steps. Maybe if I look inside, I’ll find something useful, like something to hide myself, or a…but I can’t use my magic.

She placed one hind hoof and one forehoof against the horn ring, and her last non-injured leg against the floor for support. For what must’ve been the hundredth attempt today, she tried to get her magical muffler off. The muffler had been hammered too near her forehead to be wedged, so the filly had to squeeze. She gathered as much strength as her small bloated body could offer. But no matter how hard she pushed, the ring wouldn’t budge. It’s as if the small shackle had grown roots inside her horn, wrapping around her skull. Pushing harder made her fear she’d rip off her horn. She tried twisting the ring off. Then, she tried tugging in short bursts, which hurt much more than the steady approach.

Nothing’s working… A tear formed in each inner corner of her eyes. Well, at least I have time here… Maybe I can chip it off…

She looked around for a rock or an object of that nature to blow off her restraint.

More hoofsteps. She felt she should just ignore them at this point—many creatures go back and forth these alleyways and panic would only make her breaths more obvious—but these hoofsteps were very close. And they came closer. And she could feel each clip and clop drum her skull. The sounds stopped. The creature was near. Their shadows covered the entrance of the filly’s cave like a welcome rug. The edge of her black cloak waved in the wind.

The filly got the hunch. She held her breath. Maybe they’ll leave…

The figure vocalized her stretches and loudly she yawned. “Gosh, that fire earlier sure was something,” she said. “All those products and buildings turned to soil, oh goodness me! How will they ever recover? And, gee, when they find the little culprit, they’ll—” The figure made choking noises.

Maybe they’ll still leave… the filly thought.

“Welp, I’ve got nothing better to do,” said the figure. “Guess I’ll just sit here and keep watch in case that cherry-colored filly with the orange mane and a ring around her horn decides to show herself.” A cloud of dust blew over the crevice’s entrance as the figure sat on her cloak.

…I’m doomed.

A minute passed. The figure seemed to get bored by the lack of anything happening. Meanwhile, the filly sat unsure of which angle would make her the most invisible. There was a puddle on the floor, but the entrance to the outside stood above the ground by an inch. If she lay as low as she could, maybe the stranger wouldn’t be able to see her.

There’s a sound of something being ruffled. Then a red plastic bag got tucked inside the filly’s hiding spot by a pink hoof. The bag still smelt warm and delicious. Biting and chewing was heard as the figure chowed down on her breakfast.

“Mmm~,” she hummed for all the alley to hear. “Oh, do I sure love having the most important meal of the day in this… disgusting, smelly alleyway.” She continued with her mouth full, “I sure wouldn’t mind sharing my treat as long as some filly were to ask, very nicey, ‘please.’”

The smell was almost visible: toasted bread and sliced vegetables with a dripping sauce of imported flavors. The filly bit herself to stay away; I just—I…

More noises of fiddling preceded a piece of paper wrap getting tucked inside of what had become the figure’s bin and filly’s nest. The ball of clean trash still had crumbs of muffin bread. Of the shot glass of fluids left in the filly in total, about a pint had been wasted on salivation. She gulped, considering almost drinking the water from the leaky pipe to get by. Even the paper seemed enough. Paper is made of trees, right? Trees are plants… Ugh, this creature has no idea how lucky she is…

“Aw, yuck!” the figure shouted. “Why would that colt put peppers in a muffin sandwich?! No pony has ever done that before!” The filly watched a perfectly good piece of food splatter on the wall in front of her cave with tomato sauce oozing before falling onto the dirt.

Her heart broke and she sat in shock as if she had witnessed her own murder.

“Well, I’ve got plenty of more food back at my house,” said the figure. “Too bad I don’t have a reason to go back yet. Guess I’ll just have to stay here forever.” She lay down, back facing the crevice, which trapped the filly in darkness. “Sigh,” she continued. “I sure could use a friend…”

“Why are you saying that in an alleyway?” asked a random’s voice from outside.

The figure flashed her face, and the random fled.

The filly’s stomach growled.

“Hmm, I wonder what that sound was?” asked the figure. Still in her hood, she turned to face the wall where the filly was hiding, her belly a plug blocking the crevice.

Knock, knock, knock! The figure hits the wall three times. “Hello, is anypony home? I heard a dastardly roar coming from what must’ve been a big scary monster!” She pulls her body along the wall, and now her head is in the sight of the crevice. Still, her face was covered by the shadows of the wall and her hood. The filly recognized those eyes from the roof. Red. A bounty hunter…

The filly kicked herself off the end of the hole. Her horn shot forwards and pierced one of the figure’s eyes—nearly. The figure’s reflexes kicked into action. Though her danger stood in the dark, she was able to push herself back and avoid the needle of the filly.

“Okay, that is too far!” scolded the figure. She stood up and dusted the dirt off her coat. Then, she turned around and bucked the top of the crevice. Light shone through as the crack crumbled and grew. The figure looked at the cowering filly and shook her hooded head. “Y’know, I was coming in here really admiring what you did. When I saw your picture on the noticeboard this morning, I thought: ‘Wow, how in Equestria did a filly such as yourself end up in a place as rotten as this? Maybe I should invite her to my house for tea and we discuss all posh and proper how we both got here?’ But it seems you don’t want the help of a warm and friendly pony. After you tried to—put that rock down!”

The figure smacked the filly’s hooves, and she dropped a dagger-shaped piece of the ceiling.

“If that’s how you’re going to be, then fine! It’s your life. Enjoy your hole, which is a rat nest, by the way. I’ll go fly to Equestria all by my lonesome. Who needs a companion anyways? Hmph!” The figure walked away.

What was that last part? “E-Equestria?” asked the filly.

“Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“How far is Equestria?” ask the filly.

“No, the S-word—I mean the one with five—Oh, never mind.” The figure grabbed the filly, who failed to retreat back into her hole, and flew to the rooftop. The foal had never flown before—so she screamed.

After the pegasus landed, she pressed the cleaner side of her hoof against the filly’s mouth. “Shush!” she shouted. “Gosh, you yelled right into my ears! I’m here trying to rescue you and all—” She sniffled. “Anyways! Do that again, and—” She grabbed the foal by the mane and pulled her eyes over the edge. Bounty hunters were right downstairs. She gulped. The figure continued, “Now, before we sort out our differences, let’s get one thing straight: what’s your name?”

“...I’m…”

“C’mon, you have to know this!”

“…”

“What, you don’t trust me?” asked the figure. She walked towards the edge. “Hey fellas! Guess who doesn’t trust me!”

The filly bit into the figure’s cloak and pulled her back. “It’s… L-Luster…”

“Just L-Luster?” asked the figure, leaning towards the edge. “No middle or last name?”

“Creatures have more than one?” Luster asked.

“Not everypony, but most. Don’t worry though. Your flanks are still blank canvases so I’m sure you’ll figure yourself out soon. Anyhow, you introduced yourself, so I should be fair and return the gesture—when we get to my house.”

“…” Luster looked unsure.

“If we get to my house. I won’t foalnap you, don’t worry. Sure, I already have you here, and I could easily cash out a paycheck now—wouldn't that be evil?—but I’ll let you choose.”

“...I…”

The figure uncurled a wing to showcase to Luster. “Look at this shade of coral. Does this look like the feathers of a threatening mare?”

“A bit…” Luster said.

“Yes… Well, I can be threatening if I want,” she said. “But I can be nice too. They say I’m almost deceptively innocent… cross out the ‘almost.’ Say, you seem pretty interested in my feathers.”

Luster hadn’t noticed how still her gaze was on those long rows of pink. A coat texture blanketed her wing bones in a triangle shape, transitioning to short, fluffy covets near the tip and below, trailing down to preened, lengthy primaries, secondaries, and whatever else was covered by her cloak. Her feathers looked sharp, yet comfy, evocative of starving vultures, but also of angels.

“Not a lot of pegasi at your place, huh?” asked the figure.

“Their wings are smaller.”

“Now that we’ve established that I’m adorable and threatening, why don’t you help me figure out what you are, Luster.” The figure took a step closer and lifted a lock of the filly’s mane over to the back of her ear.

“W-what are you doing?” Luster asked, leaning her head back slightly, but in vain.

“I’m trying to figure out what you are,” answered the figure. “Based on the ears, the coat, and the muzzle shape, and the mane curliness—you should wash your hair. Hmm… maybe you’re an earth pony, or a changeling, or a crystal pony… I’m just not too sure.”

“I’m a—” Is she stupid? “—I’m a unicorn.”

“A unicorn? Here? Oh gosh.” The figure smacked her head. “Prove it. Cast a spell.”

“I uhh… got this thing over here.” Luster tapped her muffler. “I can only do sparks if I really try. And they also hurt a bit.”

“And who are your parents? How did you get here?”

“...I’m not sure,” Luster said, ears and face drooping. The wind was louder than her voice, but the mare never asked for her to repeat herself.

“Right... Oh well! I’m an orphan too. Who needs parents? Pff!”

Luster felt a smidge of comfort and started to smile at the mare before she continued:

“Gosh, it’s hot around here, isn’t it? Your head must be sizzling.” She used her wing as an umbrella over Luster’s eyes. “Well, I better go home. My throat needs a big cold glass of juice after that silly sandwich I bought. Made up your mind yet?”

Luster looked around to gague her options. To her side were windows, and she could spot other creatures—but she wasn’t sure if they had spotted her, yet. “Can I come?”

The mare laid herself on the floor in a loaf position and said, “Sure! Just hop on. But if you scream into my ears again—splat! And the bounty hunters will snatch you up. I can almost still hear the ringing you caused.”

Luster gulped. She knew this was risky, trusting a draped stranger, but if she ended up caught because she tossed away this chance—well, maybe there wouldn’t be any time for regrets. Maybe they’d chop her head off in one fell swoop, or worse, they’d keep her alive and boil her in front of her old workmates. So, she walked around the mare’s wings—scared that stepping on her clean feathers would offend her—and got onto her back through the side of her neck. The cloak made lying a bit slippery. As the mare got up and walked around, Luster’s front legs clung around the other’s neck, but not too tightly. Her head on the mare’s covered withers bumped up and down at opposite intervals to her rear. But the grownup felt sturdy, unable to be toppled. Luster felt she was the weak one.

“Come on slowpoke,” said the mare. “Get on my back already or I’ll leave without you.”

“I’m already here,” replied Luster.

“Really? Gosh, you’re like a ninja! So sneaky.” The mare’s wings were extended through slots covered by squares of black, so that if the bearer chose to hide their wings, no creature could steal a glance at their color. Though Luster noticed, when they were on the ground, a roll of blue for her tail, covered completely in a separate, removable section of the apparel. “Okay, Lustie, hold on tight! I’m about to go from zero to Mach-speeds! Don’t dangle your legs or it’ll get chopped off by a clothesline. They’ll sell it on the streets and you won’t see a buck.”

Luster grabbed tighter and also squeezed her hind legs close to the mare’s sides. The pegasus bent her front legs, wiggled her hind, “Ready for it?” and—flew at a leisurely pace, as if only trying to overtake a chatty group.

“Hope you’re not too sick back there,” said the mare, adjusting her back to not be too sloped. “If you are, you better hold it in. And I’m actually pretty serious about that.” She landed on the brick railings of a rooftop and trotted over to the next. “Here comes a jump!” Luster’s head bumped into the mare’s back as she stopped and hopped over to the next building. “Here comes another one.” And again. Finally, she ended the trip with a second-long glide down a story to an exterior fire exit. “Woo! That was a trip. Anypony still back there, or have I left an omelet of blood and bones on the ground?”

“…I’m still here.”

“Jeez, can’t believe you survived that,” the mare said, lowering her neck to slide the filly through the window into her house.

She looked over and noticed a creature entering the opposite building. “Ptz! Here kitty, kitty, kitty~” The neighbor, an Abyssinian feline bipedal, grumpily closed their curtains.

Light plumes of smoke could still be seen from the site of the fire. The mare closed her curtains as well.

Luster, limping, was struck by how comfy the room looked. The walls were clean sandstone bricks covered by paintings of Equestria’s baddest villains and photos taken of famous landmarks, each with a rook somewhere in focus, whether that be a rook-shaped pillow or a chess piece taken from a set board. Between those lay soulless motivational posters, such as an Abyssinian hanging onto a branch captioned, “Hang in there!” or “You’re Pawsome!”

An armchair sat opposite a sofa, both red with floral lace covers, and had a rook-shaped pillow identical to the one in those photos but a shade duller from age. The carpets were more suited for a bathroom, what with it being made out of bulky crocheted yarn. When Luster went over to inspect a wooden table with a glass top, she saw her hoofs had left a trail of dirt marks. The filly took a step back, only to have made more stains. Now she’s stuck.

“You’re not staining my very, very expensive white hoofmade rug, are you sweetie?” asked the mare in her attached kitchen. She took an orange carton out of her fridge, which to Luster looked to be from the future and had photos of creatures, critters, and clouds attached by magnets to its door. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

Luster, to avoid muddying the carpet, climbed onto the table and jumped to the sofa.

“You’re really stepping your hoovsies on my table?” said the mare. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who taught you your manner, young mare?” The sound of juice being poured overlapped the silence. “I should destroy you for that.”

Luster wasn't sure what rude meant in this new world. She wasn’t even sure what hygiene was. Meal breaks in between work were shared by rats, and water was a scarce resource. But she knew how to apologize to her superiors; so, she surfaced her head over the sofa’s back—now she was staining the laces—and looked up to see the mare—with her head now unsheathed.

Whirlpools of sky-blue hair haunted the mare’s head under cream-colored horns. Light freckles patterned her pearly cheeks. Her eyes were as ardent as Tartarus, feathers as sharp as a snake’s tongue, and now that voice soothing, deceptively innocent, made total sense… I have to get out of here!

Cozy Glow watched the filly’s eyes constrict and muscles freeze. “What’s wrong, dearie? You look as if you’ve walked into the den of a monster...” Her head cracked to her side as she smiled. “Gee, I’m hungry. Why don’t you make yourself breakfast?”

The supervillain spun a knife into the air. She grabbed the blade and threw it in the direction of the filly.

Luster opened her eyes, half believing she had entered another plane of being, or that Anguish was late to excite her nerves. The knife had only struck a pineapple in a weaved fruit bowl on the table.

“Golly! Seems I haven’t lost my throwing skills, won’tcha say?” Carrying six glasses in between her foreleg and chest, Cozy placed each one on the table. The glasses all had depictions of a member of the Mane Six. “Be careful with my fine porcelain.”

Luster jumped back as Cozy sat beside her. After a moment, her head turned to the filly. “Aren’t you going to sit down or do you want to redecorate my whole house?” Cozy asked, eyes pointed at Luster’s hooves. “Foul foal.”

“Look who’s…” Luster gulped. “Look who’s talking…”

Cozy stared on with a poker face, before losing herself to tears. “Oh, you’re right! Look who’s talking! You look so scared… Even foals in Kludgetown are afraid of me! Oh, boo. Oh, boo hoo…” She blew her muzzle on a hoofkerchief from under her cloak. “I’m guessing you already know who I am?”

“...You’re Cozy Glow,” Luster said. “Manipulator, supervillain. You tried to take over the world, twice.”

“Three times,” Cozy said, the sadness in her voice drying up. “I was just kicked out of the Crystal Empire last month. News must get to you slow. And here I thought snail-mail was a cheeky colloquialism.”

“...Why?”

“Oh, y’know, voiced a few pretty spicy opinions, sat on the wrong chair. Now they want my head on their wall. I’m not sure if that’s a better job than being a statue but I really don’t want to find out. You get what I mean?”

“...What are you going to do to me?”

Cozy jumped onto the couch and stood on her hind legs, spreading aloft her wings and front hooves, glaring her teeth, glaring at the filly, who receded into the arm of the couch with a yelp—and Cozy giggled before dropping and lying down. Now the villain’s head lay on the sofa, evicting Luster to less than a single seat cushion of space. Luster—careful not to get dirt on Cozy’s mane or else she’d wish she got caught by a bounty hunter—peeked her head over Cozy’s bow. The mare’s irises rose from the ceiling to the filly’s.

“What would I do to you?” Cozy wondered aloud. “Why would I go after a filly like you? You're just a little arsonist. I’ll say, when I saw giant towers of smoke erupting into the sky, I thought Flurry Far—Heart, Flurry Heart, had heard I was here and, oh, I guess I better pack my bags. I was supposed to meet a friend from the Empire but she’s very mentally sick and bailed on me last minute.” She sighed. “Guess I’ll have to fly all the way back home myself, alone, since, well, who would want to share a trip with a pony as wicked as me?”

“...You’re going to Equestria?” Luster asked. “Is it… is it really better… than here?”

“It’s okay,” Cozy said. “Twilight’s sinking the economy and most of the creatures are vile, but there are some good parks and the food is lovely. You don’t get how tricky it is to find even a morsel of anything edible in this city.”

Luster’s stomach roared.

“...Seems somefilly has an empty tummy,” Cozy said. “Though yours is a bit… tumid. Did you eat a cloud? They only put those around fancy drinks for decoration.”

“What? No, I just…”

Cozy reached for a tin of biscuits under her table. “You shouldn’t eat balloons either. You don’t know where that helium could’ve come from. Now come on, pick a drink and cookie.”

“...Are these normal?”

“No they’re full of filly poison,” Cozy said. “Of course they’re normal.” She bit into one that had a layer of chocolate on top. “Your bounty is like a tissue paper to me. You know how many digits are on my bounty? It’s on television. Besides, I’m not a pony that revels in meaningless violence unlike some of my very good friends. No. The only reason I’d ever have to lay a feather on another creature is if they were mean to me. But what have you done that’s mean to me?”

Luster looked at her hoof marks on Cozy’s fabrics. “...Are your ears okay?” she asked.

“Why would you bring that up, meanie? Are you still not sure about my cookies? Huh? What, you think I’m lying to you? I’m just a big fat liar? Is that it?!” Cozy’s glare flicked the filly to her back. Getting up, Luster crawled under the villain’s eyes and hovered her hooves over her choices. The tin of butter-milk biscuits was five-cookies tall and presented many treats. There were ones that were flat rings, ones that had a dollop of vanilla frosting in the middle, ones that were squared and ones that were circular, ones covered in a sprinkling of sugar, and ones drenched in solid chocolate; only one of that type was left. Luster reached for what Cozy got.

“Uh, uh, uh,” scolded Cozy, passing her a wet wipe pulled from a bag lying on the floor. “Let’s not be too messy.” Luster looked at the cold layered tissue as if she had never seen one before. So, Cozy acted as the servant and wiped the forehooves of the filly for her.

The instant Luster brought her muzzle closer to the box and felt the fragile weight of the biscuit between her lips, her hunger revived. Cozy watched in silence as Luster used her hooves to catch the crumbs. Then she licked the crumbs off her butter antibacterial-smelling soles—thank goodness they were cleaned! “Don’t bite your hooves off, filly.”

“C-can I…” Luster pointed to the box.

“No.”

“What? Why?”

“You’re not supposed to feed malnourished fillies too much. The shift in electrolytes could destroy you,” Cozy explained. “Do you know what electrolytes are?”

“Not really…”

Cozy took the tin and hovered over to her kitchen. “Do you know what electricity is?”

“Kind of.”

“It’s the bright zappy magic that powers a lot of our stuff: lights, fridges, coffee machines. I really wish the pegasi towns would stop phasing out lightning just to rely on hornhea—” Cozy forgot for a moment what tribe the filly in the room belonged to. “...spells. They rely on spells too much. I only use the coffee thing for cocoa. You ever had a cocoa?”

Luster shook her head, though because her head was against the sofa facing the fruit, Cozy couldn’t tell. “What’s that?”

“Only the most wonderful drink you’ll ever have! Fresh hot chocolate with milk biscuits and marshmallows. Oh, if only you weren’t so starved.”

“Why would you want a hot drink?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk—you haven’t been to the skies yet. You’ll want nothing colder than a tongue-melting cocoa when your breath forms a cloud, and you’re helpless to stop your own chittering teeth, and the colorful juices in your horn start to freeze, and your tears turn to crystals, and icicles form over your whiskers. Nice set by the way.” Cozy strummed the sensitive hairs growing out of Luster’s muzzle. The filly’s whole body spasmed.

After placing a cuboid bottle with an extruding top carrying a deep-red liquid on the table, alongside a spoon, Cozy dug a large manicure set out of her bag and opened it like a book. Inside was an array of crystal care tools—which to Luster, could only be used for torturing helpless foals. She pulled out a long pair of scissors with a dull tip. “Want me to trim those for you?” Cozy asked, snip-snipping the air.

Luster covered her muzzle and shook her head, whipping her mane back and forth.

“You have a pair of predator eyes to see in front of you,” Cozy said, booping Luster just as she was opening up, “but fine. Just don’t complain later when the cold wind drives you crazy. Oops! I mean, if you decide to tag along.” She reached again for the bottle, condensation now brimming the sides, and for the spoon to pour a dose. It flowed about as well as honey and smelled bitter.

Luster already knew what she was not doing. “What is that?”

“Changeling blood,” Cozy said, straight-faced. “Kidding. It’s a healing potion.”

“...That’s a strong smell.”

“It’s only a four in strength. Don’t want to send your body into shock, now do we? That would make cashing you in too easy.”

Luster assumed that was a joke too, but she had no idea what a four even meant or on what metric, but still that sounded powerful. “Do I have to have the whole thing or…?”

“My advice is to take it all in one gulp. This will make your leg heal a whole lot quicker. Not instantaneously, but quicker.” As Cozy brought the spoon closer, Luster’s head pulled back. Cozy's pouting made Luster kiss the spoon, which was a mistake. The bitter smell had a perfumy undertone which did not help; it was as if the black bits of a fish’s liver had been dried into a chalk, boiled in venous blood, mixed with the shavings of a rose candle.

“I’m good,” Luster said.

“Now Luster,” said Cozy in a soothing voice, “I know this potion smells… not very nice… Okay—it smells really bad! Like floral stomach acids because my dearest dealer is the stingiest mare I know—more than those Flim and Flam brothers, that doctor!—and I don’t see a point in tossing her a tip, because usually injured creatures aren’t all that PICKY!”

Luster pointed her horn instinctively, scrambling to get up from her position on the couch.

“...Sorry,” Cozy said. “I was thinking of somefilly else. Anyways, how about we make a deal? I’m a very good negotiator so you’re going to have to open your ears and use that head of yours. I’ll take a spoonful of this to mend my own ear numbness caused by somepony’s screams, and if you do the same, I’ll give a cast to that broken leg, and you get another biscuit. How’s that sound?” Cozy asked, a cheek resting on her hoof.

“…” Luster saw the tools Cozy had in the open manicure set on the table. She wondered if they were sharp enough to… “What about my horn? Can you do something about my horn first?”

“Oh, that? Why? So you can blast my head off? The infamous Cozy Glow is to be defeated by a shower-free filly? Is that the legacy you’re going for?”

“What?! No, no!”

“You’re smiling!”

“I-I don’t know why I’m smiling.”

“So it’s a nervous smile?”

“I… think... so? Heh…”

“Now you’re giggling! Oh gosh, I better get out of here.” Cozy started to lift herself. “This filly’s crazy!”

“Wait, no, please!” Luster grabbed Cozy by the tail of her cloak.

“...Fine. I’ll trust you, but the horn freeing only comes after everything else, got it?”

“Yeah, that’s okay.”

“Shake on it.” Cozy, still hovering, extended her hoof. Luster looked her in the eyes as she ratified the deal.

The mare took her dose without whining, only squinting and sucking her lips. “Yum… Okay, now it’s your turn,” she said, landing. Luster’s mind was so preoccupied with fear that when Cozy sat down, and her weight depressed the cushion, she lost her balance; and she caught herself on Cozy’s side.

“I wouldn’t have thought the potion was scary enough to make you hug a supervillain, come on,” Cozy said. Nevertheless, she wrapped a wing over Luster and shook her gently. Now Luster lay trapped, forced to watch as the villain poured her concoction.

“Wait, you’re gonna use the same spoon?” Luster raised, clutching one of Cozy’s ringlets with her other leg over her wing. “Isn’t that super gross?”

“I already washed it with a wet wipe,” Cozy said. “Those are antibacterial.”

Luster stroked the bony edge of Cozy’s wing, wondering: how do these things allow her to fly? “Still gross…”

Cozy squinted at the filly. “Fine, fair, okay. I have another spoon right here in my bag.”

“When have those been cleaned?” Now she was playing peekaboo with the mare’s wing.

“I’m sorry, when was your last bath? And you’re talking to me about hygiene?! Just because these rosy clear cheeks are part of my natural good looks doesn’t mean it doesn’t need maintenance! Say that three times fast. You can do that while I go get the cleanest spoon from my drawer.” She winked.

Luster sat up straight as Cozy flew off. It’s as if she had a grudge against the floor. She loved to fly. When she wasn’t walking, her wingtips were the default for holding objects. The filly couldn’t tell if that was normal pegasus behavior because in her factory, pegasi were rarer than unicorns, and unicorns were rare. Fliers were difficult creatures to keep, and less productive than other tribes once you pluck out their feathers. There were a few griffons in her factory, and Luster knew one quite well. She never could fly with the restraints and leg cuffs she had to wear. Her coat wasn’t as flashy or fashionable as a pegasus pony’s, so she stayed around and slept next to her.

Cozy’s home had good aeration but a desert day was still a desert day; but despite the sweat-inducing climate, Luster couldn’t say she hated the comfort of Cozy’s feathers—a supervillain’s feathers, perhaps the most Evil pony in the history of everything. What other filly went to Tartarus? And what did they say? She pretends to be sweet and nice just so she can lure you right into her trap! And then she’ll destroy you. And laugh. Oh, how she’ll laugh! In ways that say she isn’t even a pony at all! But a cunning spirit of mischief that eats foals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner after stealing them from their nests and clipping off their talons with dull blades—one. By. One.

Or at least that’s what Georgia told me. But it must be—

Darkness. Cozy had sat down in front of Luster and leaned back.

Couldn’t she see me? Is she blind? Does she want to cut off my muzzle?!

“Lustie? Where did you go?” Cozy asked, a hoof over her forehead, searching for the lost foal. “I could’ve sworn you were just here! Well, guess I’ll just sit and wait for you over this comfy new message pillow. Might as well treat myself to all the cook—EOUCH!”

Cozy bent forwards, and, twisting her shoulders, she pushed Luster to her side with a wing. Wincing, she said, “I would’ve thought a slave factory would’ve filed that horn of yours. Golly, filly, you poked right through my wing joint. You know I’m still Cozy Glow, right? Supervillain?”

“You nearly killed me!” Luster said.

“Ah yes, of course,” Cozy said, tucking her wings back into her cloak through the slots. “Smothered and cooked to death like a wasp in a bee hive. You know a journalist actually called me a bumblebee before? And back then I was only a filly! Multiple articles too. When I returned to the Crystal Empire, guess what her first line for my article was. “It seems Cozy Glow has buzzed back to life—” What a jerk. I should hire a different type of bug to visit her house. It’s like they don’t even believe I’m a pony. It’s absurd!”

“…”

“No…” Cozy’s eyes and body recoiled. “Don’t tell me you buy that garbage too! How old do you think I am?”

“...Forty… six?”

“...Wow. At least it’s not a thousand or something ridiculous. That’s still ridiculous! That’s twice too high, give or take a couple of years. My birthday is a mystery. I celebrate it on the day Tirek, Chrysalis, I threw a big cupcake party. Oh, I miss those days so much. Do you know what a cupcake is? Well, you can have one—never! Now have your spoon. I don’t feel bad for bringing you a soup ladle now.”

“You felt bad?”

Cozy chuckled. “I know. That’s a good one.” She already had a dot of red goo at the bottom of the ladle. Luster swore that was more than a spoonful. The smell was forced upwards by the curve of the ladle and Luster’s ears dropped down to her muzzle. “Come on, you look like a beaten puppy. Just pitch your nostrils and take one big filly sip. You can wash it down with one of the drinks you haven’t touched.” Luster reached for the drinks. “Oh yeah, keep stalling.”

Her body acted as a bridge between the sofa and table as she used one foreleg to hang on and the other to separate a glass.

Cozy walked her feathers on Luster’s back, pretending they were an upright dragon. “Really? Twilight Sparkles cup?” she said; Luster felt tickled by the feathers reaching her neck. “Okay, it’s your choice. Not as bad as Applejack.” She mocked, “Your pen pal Tirek told us all about how he—ugh! That voice. What happened to talking normally?”

“You don’t talk normally.”

“Now don’t be silly and have your medicine. C’mon! Here comes the Friendship Express! The Wonderbolts coming in hot! Harmony ray to conquer Nightmare Moon!”

Luster rolled her eyes before returning to the brim of tears. She gulped and shoved her muzzle into the ladle—and licked up the acrid puddle.

The dose resembled peanut butter in that it stuck between her teeth and tongue. Even after most of it went down to her stomach, and coated her throat in a tar of carrion, whenever she took a breath, bitterness bounced back. She could almost see puke-colored fumes blow out of her nostrils as she rinsed her mouth with spit.

Oh, the drink! Luster remembered. Where is it?! It wasn’t on the table; instead, after a moment of whistling away from Luster’s torment, Cozy tapped the filly’s head with the glass between her feathers. She was smirking—the sick mare! But Luster grabbed the glass and chugged. At least the wave of grape juice helped kick the horror back into her stomach. “Ugh,” Luster muttered.

She offered no fight as Cozy toppled her over on the forehead. She just lay on her back, a front leg hanging over the sofa, hardly wincing—so used to pain—as Cozy wrapped a blue, shimmering bandage over her broken leg.

Cozy tucked a biscuit into Luster’s mouth, which she held between her lips like a cigarette. There was no warning. Cozy’s forehooves and wings, all four around her pastern, jolted. They shifted the filly’s bones into their proper places. Luster snapped the cookie. But the pegasus acted fast, and in only two seconds, she was finished. Her left hoof tapped the bandage twice, and the wraps expanded and solidified into a sturdy, azure crystal.

A gust of wind straightened Luster’s mane as Cozy flapped back to avoid the filly’s single-hoof kicks. Luster bit the cushions of the sofa, focusing on not twitching a single muscle in her poor leg. And her body felt too busy crying to keep the bile down her stomach.

“I know it hurts, dear, but you even think about puking on my beautiful couch, and you can consider this place your home for the rest of your life,” Cozy said. “And by that, I mean outside. My house needs to be clean in case I ever decide to come visit. I’m not sure you’re a very clean pony.”

Everything to Luster was a blur. The outlines of her vision waved as her heart drummed her temples. She failed again and again to calm her breathing. The biscuit still sat in her mouth.

“...Now that I’ve really gotten a good look at it… I’ll probably burn these cushions. Your hoofprints are everywhere.”

The pain. The visceral stinging pain. Deep into bones. Inalienable from conscious being. Networks of nerves igniting and muscles fearful to react. Just please let it end, Cozy, please.

“So, uhh...” Cozy sipped the strawberry juice in the Applejack glass. “You don’t blame me for this, right? Because I didn’t break your leg. I’m just the doctor. Maybe you should be more careful when you’re escaping next time? Or get a pair of wings.”

“You’re a featherhead,” Luster whispered loudly.

“You better watch your tongue, young mare. You can’t say things like that in Twilight’s Equestria.”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t? Oh my goodness, please don’t hurt me, please!” Cozy dug into her bag. “But seriously, if I unlock your horn and I get one burn on my body, I will kick your pointy crystal straight off your head. That’ll feel much worse than a broken bone. Last pony I did that to was on the floor for days. She cried all sorts of crazy things.”

Cozy flew over to the still-lying filly and dug her lock picks into the muffler’s keyhole. This time, Luster watched very closely what the mare was doing. She felt the clicks of Cozy’s tooling as she jiggled two sharp picks near what was a very sensitive organ.

“Say, you’ve probably lived here longer than I have,” Cozy said, as if she were a barber chatting with the client. “What’s Abyssinia like? I always wanted to go there but I’ve been too busy. You must have some friends snatched from an Abyssinian city.” She had a few differently shaped picks in her mouth which dwindled Luster’s will to watch her operation; her eyes were right under Cozy, who started hovering and doing her work at a sloped angle. “There’s also Farasi.”

“Yeah…”

“That place with the zebras and the kelpies. It shouldn’t take more than a day’s worth of flying so long as the weather stays clear. Abyssinia’s actually closer to here than Equestria.”

“Uh-huh…”

“But I heard bad things about their food. I’ve been forced to eat meat a few times to get by. Usually I just end up swallowing my pieces because my pony teeth weren’t made for chewing corpses. You ever had to eat meat?”

“…”

“Luster?”

“Huh? Uhh… maybe.”

“...Think fast,” Cozy said, and standing on the floor for once, she dropped a biscuit; it fell on Luster’s muzzle. “Oh. Do you have a magic deficiency or…” Cozy spun the detached muffler ring around her furthermost feather.

Luster realized her horn no longer carried the feeling of being choked or heavy. Flowing from the base to the tip and back down, streams of magical catalysts had awakened from a sleepwalk. She turned to Cozy’s armchair and—

Bits of burning fabric flew across the room as Luster’s first spell spawned a sneeze of fire. A couple of those landed in front of Cozy’s hooves. None touched her mane.

Luster blew out a few embers on Cozy’s cloak. The villain was stoic.

“One burn, Luster.” Cozy’s wing symbol of a ‘one’ motioned into a slice over her forehead. “And you never even sat on that chair. That’s a pretty big waste.” Black smoke started to pile on the ceilings. Luster looked at Cozy, cringing in panic. “Don’t worry about me. I have hundreds of flight hours in high altitudes. My breath-holding skills are pretty good.”

“...But what about—” Luster covered her muzzle to avoid guzzling smoke.

Cozy sighed. She took off her cloak and placed it over Luster, got closer to the fire, and grabbed the rook-shaped pillow from the floor. Her hooves and teeth twisted the rook, and—pop! Using her wings to push forth a gust, a flurry of clouds shot outwards and choked the flames like foam. “Happy?”

Luster nodded. This was a big mess. She told herself she’d better listen to Cozy to not upset the supervillain further. She couldn’t tell if the grownup was numb, or one gawk away from snapping, or what would trigger that snap. The outside world had too many choices. If only she was invisible, then she could study how to live without having to traverse questions of how to be polite or all the odd rituals, like wiping your hooves before meals. And what’s a zebra? Or a Farasi?

Cozy opened a window and looked back at a clock. “Well Lustie, if you really are serious about wanting to be smuggled to Equestria, then surely a reasonable payment of bits to me would only be fair, no?”

“P...payment?” Luster fidgeted with the ends of the cloak Cozy dropped on her earlier.

“Well, for that and the couch. There’s never been a mare as wanted as me, and I hardly know you. So you could be a spy, or a tattler, desperate for attention or riches. Tell me why I should set myself up for a lifetime of liability.”

“I-I wouldn’t do that. I would be the most thankful creature in the world! And, I mean, that would be dumb, of course—to tell ponies about you, I mean.”

“Yeah... It would be really stupid, wouldn’t it? I’m sure even if those bounty hunters had a blade to your neck, you would never spill a letter about me, right?” Cozy smiled.

“Y-yes, of course!”

Cozy tilted head. “Of course you would or of course you wouldn’t? It’s a negative question, Lustie. You need to brush up on grammar.”

“Not! Of course, I would never, ever tell on a pony like you!”

“Pony like me?” Cozy asked, one eye bigger than the other. “What’s that supposed to—I’m teasing. You’re a smart filly. You know that if you were to tell anypony, or a critter about me, if you dare to even dream about this whole tea party, I’d—well, you know what I’d do.”

“…”

“But anyways,” Cozy went on, “you haven’t said a reason to make up for the burden of carrying you all those thousands of miles up north. Sadly you’ll be getting a royal experience with how wonderful of a flier I am, and every pegasus pony should know their worth, us factory folk. Plus, you’ve never flown before, right? And so I’ll have to go slower, and also lower, and then there’s the weather, and the pits stops, and I can’t yaw or pitch too much or you’ll fall down, and if that happens over an Equestrian town, I’ll be doomed!”

“...I don’t have any bits—”

Cozy gasped but with her eyes and body not moving.

“...Maybe I can pay you by… sweeping?”

“In the house I’m about to move out of? That sure is an offer.” Cozy saw a puddle of sweat forming under Luster’s hooves. “Maybe you can help me pack my things into my bag.” She pointed to her one satchel. “Then, if I fly just as fast as before to keep special accommodations fees low, maybe you’ll be able to afford one cold bumpy ride on my back.”

“That sounds fair!” Luster blurted.

“Excellent! You can start by chucking the couch.”

“...You want me to go downstairs by myself?” Where they’re probably looking for me?

“What? Would you rather toss it out the window?” Cozy laughed and pointed to the fire exit they entered from. “Use that one. It’s the noisiest one.”

Ding-dong. Luster never heard a sound like that before.

“Seems somecreature’s at my door,” Cozy said. “Must’ve sniffed you out. You should go use my shower before you muddy my burnt couch.” She meant it as a joke, but Luster walked over to the short hallway serving three rooms anyways. There was a bathroom to the left, door opened, and two bedrooms—one for Cozy herself, and one for guests if she decided to have any—doors closed.

“Where is she?!” shouted the creature at the door. And Luster recognized the voice. The creature was piggish, heavy build, and before would be contracted by the Boss to catch defecting foals. And they were made examples of. The sounds she heard on those days were almost worse than the sights.

Did Cozy… Did she invite… Luster grappled with the possibility.

Cozy had the front door opened only ajar. “Give me just a moment, mister.”

She pulled a dart gun out of her bag, loaded a bullet of (magical) xylazine, and pointed the barrel at the peephole.

Luster heard a loud splintery smash. But she had already locked the bathroom doors. The idea of Cozy pulling her heartstrings all long now seemed extra questionable compared to when the bounty hunter knocked. The living-room table shattered. But Evil creatures were always backstabbing each other. Either way, she should probably hide someplace safe in this bathroom. The room shook as something struck the walls. Cozy was a bit shorter than she expected; Luster wouldn’t be placing any bets on her winning.

When Luster turned to look around, her jaw nearly fell. She had never seen a room so opulent, modern, and clean. Porcelain tubs, metal faucets, and a spectrum of candles, soaps, towels, books under a glass cabinet; and to her bath, in a basket: soft, nebulous orbs. They smelt of sweets and looked to be a sort of dessert from the outside world. Thinking back, Luster was getting upset over not being able to enjoy her second cookie. Surely, Cozy, who was doomed, wouldn’t notice if one of her many treats went missing? Luster, with her hooves, grabbed a blue orb, one with a cloudy streak around its center. She bit into the melded spine of the plastic and unpeeled a blueberry scent. One drop of saliva trickled down the ball and fell to the frame of the bathtub, where she propped her hooves, and had left a depression. She took a bite.

Powdered soap. Luster spat into the bathtub until she found out how to turn on its tap. Water was never wasted for taps in the bathroom in her old place, only on public water troughs for drinking, touching who-know how many tongues. She looked around the basket to find a label: “Bath—bombs.” What does either of those words mean? Reading was hard.

There’s another house-quake.

Luster told herself to hurry. None of the inside places looked good for hiding. The bathtub? Under the sink cabinet? Behind the door where Cozy hung her bathrobe and towels? No. The only proper place seemed to be outside. There was a casement window through a square depression in the wall where two hard-covered books sat next to half a candle.

Outside were planks of scaffolding.

Perfect! Even if Cozy wasn’t planning on destroying her, waiting for their fight to blow over seemed sensible. She was only a pony. And Luster realized she still had the mare’s cloak over her head: a perfect disguise for the streets, should it come to that again. Probably not. All she had to do was stand outside the window, wait until the Sun sets, and make her move. Simple.

And if Cozy survived the bounty hunter, she’d probably be weakened.

The filly, unlike Cozy, could conjure fire. If she were to attack me, Luster thought, I could maybe say I’ll do to her what I did to her couch… yeah. Or maybe I could force her to bring me to Equestria? She is a supervillain, so it’s sort of deserved, really. Even if she was pretty nice…

She opened the window and jumped onto the plank. Wonder how Cozy’s doing… Maybe I could go back and defeat the bounty hunter? He has thick skin, but I did burn down a whole facto—

The wood below creaked. To the beam in front of Luster, something wiggled. Many things. Termites, larvae and adults, had made a nest of the timber.

Luster gulped and took a step back.

She fell through nine layers of plywood. Were it not for Cozy’s cloak, she would have felt splinters. Her back landed and slid down a repurposed bedsheet used as a homeless tent, vacant. She lay on the floor of a new alleyway for a moment, staring up at the sky. She really, really wanted another biscuit.

Comments

[Biglulu]

Great start. I'm loving this concept.

[Victor07]

Cool, but I'm curious, how this story connects to the other, Will her cover be blown and will she run away?

[Victor07]

Whirlpools of sky-blue hair haunted the mare’s head under cream-colored horns. Light freckles patterned her pearly cheeks. Her eyes were as ardent as Tartarus, feathers as sharp as a snake’s tongue, and now that voice soothing, deceptively innocent, made total sense… I have to get out of here!

Now I want to see Cozy use those feathers to slice something (or someone)

[Victor07]

11809695
It's strange that I read this whole story in just one week, it seems like so long ago

I really liked this rewrite, now Cozy seems less like a crazy mare who has fixated on Luster for some strange reason, and more like a manipulator who wants to kidnap Luster for her own purposes. She is both more threatening and more deceptively friendly

[asdtroi8895]

Nice rewrite. Certainly brings more of an edge to Cozy, which I suppose does make it a more realistic depiction.